The Killing Power of Fashion
by Alex the Kritkanzer
Summary: Was Molly Weasley the only woman to beat Bellatrix Lestrange at a duel? Find out - may be even the death cannot stop one notorious killer. Yet there is always room for unexpected curses...


As stated previously, I am extremely grateful to J.K. Rowling and Notwolf for the chance to play with their toys. It is a tribute to the talent and the courage to follow it.

This small one is situated after Notwolf's The Voldemort Diaries—Chapter 63 (Family Matters) and is compliant:) I hope you will enjoy it - and if there is another avid Notwolf fan who writes fanfics over fanfics - I will be glad to hear from you and read your fanfics!

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><p>Aline was wearing tight jeans and loose shirt that could have been her grandmother's by the cut and ruffles. Her feet were soundless in her Indian deerskin boots. For Severus she looked the glowing epitome of motherhood at its best. He stopped with his hand on the door knob.<p>

"You are sure you want to meet the most infamous of all bitches?"

"I want to meet your duel partner. Let us go!"

In the middle of the dark stone floor stood Bella. She was dressed not in her habitual attire of a street worker from the slums but in a fashionable scarlet dress. Her heels were impossibly high and her hair had been arranged in something resembling a chignon. Some loose curls softened the sharp features. This was the only soft thing in her expression.

"Good morning Mrs. Lestrange! I have heard a lot about you!"

"Good morning. I can believe that. But I doubt your husband had done me justice. Why did you take him with you?"

"As we have never met I could not possibly require a meeting with you, could I?"

"Of course you could. This is the Room of Requirements, not a snobbish club where you cannot talk to the other until introduced. Which by the way your husband forgot to do…Teaching him manners is a waste of time, I find!"

"His manners are impeccable with impeccable people I find!" Aline blistered.

Bellatrix produced a nasty laugh. "You wish he was so pliable. But love is blind, they say. It is also deaf, I would say!"

Suddenly Aline's wand was in her hand and a blue jet erupted from it in time to meet a flurry of red curses. She shot something yellow which Bella blocked. In few seconds the air was sizzling with curses yet both witches were silent. A column shattered.

Severus cursed his stupidity to bring Aline to meet Bella. As he did not know the curses they were using, any intervention could prove fatal. It could be fatal to Aline, as Bella was already dead, he corrected himself. He tried unsuccessfully to wish Madame Lestrange back to oblivion but Aline's determination was keeping her in the Room. Wand in hand he started looking for a good moment to break them apart.

The moment never came. Suddenly Bella fell awkwardly on the floor. A split second later she was blindfolded with a scarf the colour of her dress. The image of the most notorious duelist in the history of Hogwarts lasted another second before she faded away.

Severus rushed to hug his wife. "You beat her! You actually beat her!"

Aline dusted her jeans from the marble particles and kissed him soundly. "If you make me a glass of hot chocolate I will even tell you how. Let us get out of here!"

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><p>They were back in the Dungeons and Aline was sitting at her desk with the steaming cup in her hand.<p>

"I still cannot believe it! Do you know how rare you are? You are probably the only person apart from Tom and Molly who ever defeated her! And I am not so sure about Tom!"

"Molly Weasley was fighting for her children and I was fighting for mine. "

"What do you mean? The twins were not there!"

"No but there was a very real possibility of them to be completely orphaned!" Aline's eyes threw flames.

"Bella is an image! She cannot harm you!"

"Who fed you this crap?"

"Albus said she is harmless!"

"Oh, for him for sure, on many levels!" Aline giggled then became serious. "Severus, she was bored and was playing cat and mouse with you for the moment. You have heard of psychosomatics, haven't you?"

"Of course!"

"So it will be not the curse that will inflict the wound, it will be your mind that will. No, of course your hand will not be severed. But there are other ones. Boils! Burns! Cuts! You could bleed to death there all alone!"

Severus felt his heart beating faster. He looked at his hand where a small cut was healing. He had found it after the last duel with the bitch, he had not even felt it in the heat of the battle. Severus had not paid attention to it, thinking that he may have scraped his hand somewhere. But the cut was deeper and he would have felt it under normal circumstances.

"She did it. That was what she thought exactly. I made him bleed, now I have them both, let me finish them together."

"How did you get this?"

"She did not know I am a clairvoyant. But she had been an expert Legilimens and tried to get into my mind. The hard part was not to let her close hers." Aline laughed. "I knew the curses before she uttered them. This is the only way to keep her at bay. Boy, she knows a lot."

"But how did you actually topple her?"

"You see, I used a spell from school. Back in Salem our class had a teacher we really hated and she loved high heels. So we worked hard and modified the leg binding curse to bind her heels. Never thought I would need it again. Darling fashionista Bella had no chance."

"Will you tell me the spell?"

"No, absolutely no! I love high heels myself! But I can share the blindfolding one under some circumstances, what will you say to that?"

"Will the circumstances include high heels?"

"Will be considered!"

"Just give me a second to ward the door!"


End file.
